Conversations

During each of the six breakout sessions throughout the weekend, a large number of conversations will take place. This site will help you organize your plan for the weekend and provide the relevant information for each conversation. After signing in, search through the conversations below and mark the sessions you are interested in to populate your personal schedule on the right (or below if on your mobile phone).

SPACESHIP EARTH is a design-based, project-based, blended learning curriculum developed by Aaron Kaswell, Lynn Shon, and Andrew Zimmermann of Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, NY. The conversation will discuss implementation of this multi-layered environment from classroom setup to curriculum to mindset shift for both teachers and students.

This year, instead of giving tests, I'm holding my students accountable by having them keep an online "learning journal." They record questions, observations, and further research into topics they find most interesting. It's going pretty well -- I'd love to hear your questions and talk about plusses/minuses to this approach.

The most important thing anyone can do to improve what they do is to become more capable of generating ideas. In this conversation, we’ll explore the role that ideas have in catalyzing innovative practice, and how you can become more conversant in ideation. Join us for a provocative conversation about how you, and your organization, can nurture, curate, incubate, grow, extend, and remix ideas to create the raw material for innovation that can lead to new conditions for student learning.

We’re teachers from Philadelphia that developed a collaborative around teaching and learning Black history. We will discuss the history of our group and a unit we are developing on the modern Black experience past 1968. Join us for a conversation and contribute to the curriculum development.

In this conversation, participants of all rolls and disciplines will talk about what it takes and can look like to establish and support a healthy culture of reading and writing across classrooms, schools, and districts.

What would school look like if we designed it around the core concept of unconditional positive regard for our students? What if every aspect of school, from course design to facilities to policies and practices all communicated one message: "We care about you no matter what"? Let's imagine!

We often hear talk about the need for privacy, security, and encryption. This session will help people make simple, practical choices around sharing their information, or protecting their information. Best of all: it's easy.

We'll tackle the traditional "amoral" CS curriculum for HS students, which focuses on technical skills without a consideration of the ethical dilemmas presented through the creation of those tools. The goal is to create an open source, integrated CS curriculum grounded in modern social issues and global ethics.

‘RT’ will be a dynamic, energetic, and insightful conversation driven by participants. The purpose of this session is to harvest the collective wisdom of people new to the labor movement. They will discover ways to transform our unions and public school system toward the values of equity, inclusion, and diversity.

How do we change the mindset of a school? Join educators from Philadelphia’s Labrum Middle School as we discuss overcoming the challenges of rethinking school and where we go from here to create sustainable change.

What do Edtech Teachers, Integrationists, and Tech Coordinators do? There is no definitive answer. Are they necessary in our schools or becoming obsolete? Since many have also become full or part time Makers and/or Computer Scientists, the position might need redefining. This session will aim to clarify the role, the purpose, and perhaps the future of such a position.

In this session presenters will discuss the changing role of the teacher in the age of Google. This will be discussed from the view from the classroom with students as well as how this changes professional learning for teachers.

Is it possible to teach a diverse group without leaving some students behind? Join a conversation about how self-paced, mastery learning helps each student learn at their ideal pace. Find out how to transform your classroom so that students have the time and flexibility to truly master the content.

Registration & Coffee 8:30–9:15am

Keynote 9:15–9:45am

Conversation Session 1 10–11:30am

Cross-Pollination Lunch 11:30am–1pm

Join us for a session of “lightning presentations” delivered by EduCon participants. Each presenter will have five minutes to share an idea, broken down into twenty slides, which automatically advance every fifteen seconds.